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WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009

COMIC-CON: MAGDALENA GETS WRITER, DIRECTOR

Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures and Platinum Studios, which produces and licenses for all forms of media for Top Cow Productions, have attached Ryuhei Kitamura to direct and Holly Brix to write the feature film Magdalena based on the Top Cow character.

As previously announced, Jenna Dewan and Luke Goss are attached to star.

Kitamura previously directed Midnight Meat Train for Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment, and he has directed numerous Japanese films, including Godzilla: Final Wars, Love Death, Sky High and Azumi among others.

Brix previously wrote The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations released in January by Lionsgate and After Dark Films, adapted thriller The Lost Girls for MTV Films with Michelle Manning producing, rewrote Smooth Operator at Warner Bros for Jerry Weintraub Productions, and wrote Mile Zero set up at Phoenix Pictures with Marcel Langenegger directing and Milla Jovovich starring.

Gale Anne Hurd and Platinum Studios' Chairman and CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg are set to produce. Top Cow's CEO Marc Silvestri (Witchblade, Darkness) would serve as executive producer as would former Universal Pictures senior executive Randy Greenberg of The Greenberg Group, who helped negotiate the deal. Matt Hawkins, President of Top Cow Productions, is set to co-produce.

"Both Kitamura and Brix bring very unique visions to Magdalena," said Hurd. Kitamura's visual style coupled with Brix imaginative narrative will truly make Magdalena a compelling film on screen."

"We have wanted to work with Kitamura for some time and his appetite for the material is infectious," said Rosenberg. "Brix has been on our radar, and we are thrilled that she has agreed to be a part of this project."

"Magdalena is a very complex but visually stunning world and we believe that Kitamura and Brix are the right talents to bring this to life," Silvestri said.

DC COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and seven-page prevews of DC Comics titles arriving in stores on July 29, CLICK HERE.

Titles include Detective Comics #855 and Wonder Woman #34.

BLUEWATER PRODUCTIONS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and four-page prevews of Bluewater Productions titles arriving in stores on July 29, CLICK HERE.

OCTOBER SOLICITATIONS ROUNDUP

BRIEFLY

* Activision has announced Stan Lee will make his first onscreen videogame cameo in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, slated for release in September. Lee lends his likeness and voice to a character whose role is significant to the game's storyline, which incorporates elements of Marvel's Civil War comic book story.

"I am thrilled to be making my first onscreen videogame cameo in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Lee said. It's such a kick to see characters that I've helped create come to life in the game and now I'm a part of the Marvel videogame universe!"

* BioWare, a studio of Electronic Arts, and Dark Horse have announced a new comic book series based on the video game Mass Effect.

Mass Effect: Redemption, a four-issue mini-series, will launch on Jan. 6. It is written by Mac Walters, lead writer at Bioware, scripted by John Jackson Miller and drawn by Omar Francia.

"Fans of Mass Effect are going to be pleasantly shocked by the events in these comics," Walters said. "We worked very closely with Dark Horse to make sure this story was built in to the Mass Effect 2 arc, right from the ground up. Reading the series won't just add to your experience of the universe, it will change the way you look at Mass Effect 2... and beyond."

COMICS CONTINUUM BACK ISSUES

If you missed The Continuum's coverage over the past month, following are links. Click on the date to get the day's full report.